Independent report projects big jump in coverage for Extreme40 Series

The presence of four past and present America’s Cup teams (Luna Rossa and Emirates Team NZ pictured) have undoubtedly helped lift the profile of the Extreme Sailing series - Extreme 40’s Cowes, Isle of Wight, August 2011

The Extreme Sailing Series™ released today an independent interim media evaluation report covering the first three events (Muscat, Qingdao and Istanbul) of the 9-Act global 2011 tour.

Compared with the first part of last year’s series, the coverage increase by nearly 90%, thanks to the growing international media interest in the circuit and an ever-stronger TV news and programming footprint. Havas Sponsorship Insights project, conservatively (exceptional ‘one-off’ coverage of Act 2 China capsizes has been considered ‘non-repeating’), €23m of media value for the full year, nearly two and a half times the 2010 result.

The report is a combination of facts and projection, taking into account the level of media coverage since the start of the year, coupled with analysis and equivalent advertising figures from 2010.

Alastair Macdonald, Director of Sponsorship Insights at Havas commented: 'This interim media evaluation report for the Extreme Sailing Series 2011, illustrates the level of media coverage the series has gained after the first three events. There has been a significant increase in the volume of coverage compared to the first three events of the 2010 series, including some outstanding exposure in Asia.

'We have used the amount of coverage gained so far this year to make a projection for exposure for the full nine-event series, and the value that this media coverage may deliver.

'The organisers have been keen to point out that the additional coverage that has appeared during Act 2 in China [multiple capsizes garnering international media coverage] is of an exceptional nature, therefore, we have also reduced the full year projection to take this into account in line with OC ThirdPole’s policy of remaining conservative on media values,' he concluded.

(The video clip below has received 86,000 views and a similar clip another 55,000 views)

Mark Turner, Executive Chairman of organisers OC ThirdPole commented: 'First and foremost, we aim to be totally transparent with our methodology and results – and we’ve been using the same quite harsh methodology for three years now. We want our figures to be as realistic as possible, therefore no talk of ‘reach’ to billions of households – even if we are very happy with our expanded global TV footprint. Media evaluation figures are always treated with a level of scepticism – the most important thing for us is the continued strong progession of our global media results.

'We are pleased with this continued upward progression in the level of media coverage achieved by the circuit. It’s obviously only one measure of the value of the event for sponsors and host venues, but it remains an important one for us to deliver ever increasing returns on investment for our different stakeholders,' he concluded.

Due to cost of monitoring the Extreme Sailing Series™ media coverage globally, print and TV are only monitored over a limited period and in countries where the events are held: for print media for one month over the course of the event, for television for the week of the event – a great deal of coverage falls outside of this period. Havas Sponsorship Insights apply a conservative 10% unmonitored coverage uplift to account for the inevitable coverage that is missed outside of these monitoring periods.

Coverage included in this report includes over six hours of live television coverage across Turkey and the Balkans on the national broadcaster TRT.

None of the international six-part TV series broadcast internationally on channels including Channel 4 (UK Terrestrial), Eurosport, Bloomberg (International), Sport + (France), CNBC (International), nor the Qingdao live TV coverage on national broadcaster CCTV has been included at this point as advertising equivalent figures are undergoing research and will be included in future reports.

The second interim report will be release in December, with the final and conclusive 2011 report being published in early 2012.